Though Ford Australia has yet to build its last vehicle, the subsidiary’s Ford Performance Vehicles unit has come to the end of the road with its final V8 interceptor.

Autoblog reports FPV’s swan song is the Falcon GT F 351, a limited edition of 500 for Australia and 50 for New Zealand augmented by a supercharged 5-liter V8 pushing 471 horsepower — or 351 kW, in honor of the 5.8-liter/351 cubic-inch V8 that powered the Falcon GTs of history — and 420 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels. The GT F comes with the handling package from the Falcon R-Spec, while Brembo brakes help bring the last FPV model to a stop.

On the outside, the limited-sedan Falcon features black racing stripes that run from the bonnet to the boot, along with black accents under the headlamps and throughout the rest of the sedan. Meanwhile, orange is the new black on the inside, finding its way onto seat stitching, instrument faces and the GT F logo.

In addition to the GT F, the unit — which is taking its final bow before the Mustang takes to the stage — is also building 120 Pursuit Utes with the same 5-liter V8, though it delivers 422 horses pulling 402 lb-ft of torque to the bed in the back instead of the sedan’s “fuel-injected suicide machine”-stopping firepower. No prices have been given for either limited-edition model.

Last night I dreamed of HELLCATS coming to rule over the streets. And I saw 12 Japanese-econoboxes and 8 overpriced-German cars bowing before these HELLCATS.
An older beast with the name “Holden” faded into nothingness and the Lord said “it was good”.
And then he spoketh: the number of the beast was “6.2”.
Glory be to thine name.

The Mustang is coming back, they last sold the 2001-2002 models here. FPV no longer exists in any meaningful sense, since Ford bought out former partner Prodrive about 2 years ago and physically transferred operations in-house at the start of 2013.

Pricing was announced months ago, the sedans are $78k and the utes $53k. A handful may be yet without an owner.

Remind me again why Ford thinks something like this wouldn’t sell in the US??

Chrysler is cranking out R/Ts and SRTs, say what you will about Chevy but at least they offer the SS. This would sell like hotcakes to all the Mustang faithful that now have kids and dogs and need a sedan with a back seat. Since they apparently decided not to make the Mustang any smaller or lighter, they could even use the new Mustang platform to make a sedan as well. It even has a perfect retro name already.

Not so sure about that. Don’t get me wrong–it looks like a phenomenal car. I just think it’s the “brown diesel manual wagon” dream for the muscle car crowd. I can’t imagine it has much more room than a Taurus, which is not ideal for hauling kids and dogs, either. OTOH, if Ford had a credible alternative to a Durango R/T…

To a Mustang owner, the Taurus is immense inside, certainly roomy enough for the dogs and kids. And you are thinking too practical. It isn’t meant to be the roomiest model, not the most practical or most luxurious. It would be a 4-dr Mustang. The same crowd that buys the Charger R/T would be looking at this, for Ford fans basically, or at least for Dodge haters. :)

Now the Durango R/T isn’t really flying off the shelves, IIRC its even being cancelled. So I am not sure there is much of a market for a “muscle SUV”. The Explorer is selling like hotcakes, and the other Ford SUVs do well also. What’s the point of a Durango competitor?

Mopar really does sell all the Chargers it makes, and justifiably so. The Charger is perfect for the person who has a family and needs a practical car, but can’t stomach a ‘beige’ car.

Also much like Dodge, Ford could have another market that it let slip; the police car market. Granted, the Interceptor SUV is doing well, everyday I see more of these and less and less Crown Victorias….. it’s clear that the CV’s are mostly at their mileage sell off. The highly influential California Highway Patrol has picked the Interceptor as their main patrol car and it seems the San Diego Police Department is taking a similar lead.

However, I just don’t see the Taurus based Interceptor, at all. Maybe 1 in Escondido and that was a questionable maybe. Sometimes I see the Caprice, I know for sure the El Cajon PD has at least 1 as does Carlsbad. The Cal State San Marcos PD has the Dodge Charger. Border Patrol runs Tahoes and Wranglers… yes the JK Wrangler. Pretty sad when I see more JK’s in duty that isn’t even a ‘special service’ or police package vehicle then the Interceptor sedan.

I know why it hasn’t taken off and why it might not ever. The CHP straight up flunked it for not being able to carry all the gear it needs (and yet the CV didn’t have that problem…) plus most officers and police fleets have an immediate distrust and dislike of FWD. Cars like the feeble police Celebrity (yes, seriously) and Lumina didn’t help. The Dodge Intrepid police car was a disaster to put it bluntly, brakes aren’t supposed to literally catch fire. Ford was the first to really try with the Taurus police package of the late 80’s and early 90’s. It actually performed well and could easily match the performance of the boxy 5.7 Caprice and 5.8 Crown Victoria LTD, though at best neither car made more then 190 hp. The problem with the Taurus was that it couldn’t take the abuse that you could give a Caprice or Panther and if you did, you’d nuke the transaxle. The problem was so bad that Ford simply walked away from it when the rounded Taurus came out and never tried again until now. The Impala seems to be doing OK, but it’s not as good as the CV.

Also cops just prefer V8’s and RWD. It’s always been that way. The Aussie Falcon would work, it already uses the Coyote 5.0 and you could offer a V6 like the Caprice and Charger do. Plus I think fleet managers are also skeptical of turbochargers in police duty.

That may be so, but the same argument would hold true for the Ecoboost 3.5 and AWD in the Interceptor sedan as well.

That’s the question with fleet managers…. how will the turbos hold up in severe police duty?

I’m not sure as I’m pretty sure I’ll never see one in California- at least where I live; San Diego. I think if you want the Ecoboost, AWD is mandatory, which is not needed in my neck of the woods and would be a waste of money.

I would imagine the Coyote to be somewhat simpler over the Ecoboost…. but still, the sedan is not selling here, period. Even the retail Taurus is somewhat of a rare sight, though I haven’t seen an SS, but the Charger is everywhere here, normal Pentastar ones and R/T’s, as are the SRT’s.

What’s worse is that the Falcon and Commodore have had almost the same exact greenhouse and side profile for multiple generations – only differing mostly in the front bumper/headlight treatment. Enough similarity to make them seem like GM twins.

My understanding is that the reliability concerns were surrounding the differentials (and subsequent warranty claims), not the engine. For this model they’ve gone with the tune that it should have originally launched the 335 with had engineering won the battle with the beancounters.

The Miami is just a low compression version of the Coyote and the weight difference is the difference between the Boss 315 and the Miami. The former using a iron block and aluminum heads compared to the all aluminum construction of the latter.

I love the interceptor but always thought the autogyro would have been the better tactical bet in post apocolyptic Aussie land.

BTW, the BluRay of “The Road Warrior” is one of the few lower budget movies where the transfer makes an improvement… you can see some details painted on the copter and some of the cars you don’t see in the regular DVD, and the sound is less compressed, especially during the big truck chase.

Best car chase movie EVER… Bullitt and Ronin are great but this pops from beginning to end.

The Barra 6 was the precursor to the Ecoobost. 411hp and 420lbs ft of extremely flat torque at 1800rpm. Street versions of this engine are getting 1000hp Average horsepower and torque figures unlike the Ecoboost, which uses peak figures
If using similar figures to the Ecoboost, more like 420hp and 425-430lbs ft of torque

The actual last one will cross the block for some serious coin. Doubly so if it comes in the movie correct color scheme. They’ll likely give it to Gibsons crazy ass directly, so maybe it won’t be auctioned.

Sorry, not the inceptor, that was a two door coupe and the “F” is for final. Mel Gibson drives eco friendly hybrids these days, doesn’t he?

The falcon slots in between the Mustang GT 5.0 and the Shelby 5.8
engine wise. So we in Australia will probably get the GT500 only with the supersnake as a halo car.

So we gen Fiesta, Focus, (FWD) Mondeo (FWD, AWD possible) ……. Mustang GT500(RWD). Ranger, Everest (Ranger SUV). Losing the Falcon & Territory in the process. Ford USA gets to export a few more Mustangs and Thailand wins the world cup of Ford’s one world! Perhaps it should be Ford (Thailand) with a North American and European division!